OCGA § 40-6-391 — Georgia’s DUI Law & Your Injury Claim

The plain-English version

OCGA § 40-6-391 makes it a crime to drive while impaired by alcohol or drugs, or with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or more. It’s a criminal law — but if a drunk driver hurt you, it’s also one of the strongest facts your civil case can have.

The statute defines drunk driving two different ways. The first is the “less safe” standard: you don’t need a particular number if alcohol or drugs made the person a less safe driver. The second is the “per se” standard: at 0.08% or above, the law treats you as impaired regardless of how you seemed to be handling it.

This is a criminal statute, so a violation sends the driver into the criminal system — fines, license consequences, sometimes jail. None of that puts a dollar in the hands of the person who was injured. For that, you need a separate civil claim — and that’s where this statute does heavy lifting, both to prove fault and to open the door to punitive damages.

The actual statutory text

Georgia’s statutes are public law, so here is the operative language. (We’ve kept the key provisions; the full codified version is available through the State of Georgia.)

What each part means

The “less safe” standard — subsections (a)(1), (2), (4)

A driver can be guilty even if no breath or blood test was taken, or the number came back under 0.08. If alcohol, drugs, or a combination made the person less safe to drive, that is enough. In a civil case this matters because impairment can be proven with witness accounts, video, the officer’s observations, and the crash itself — not just a test result.

The “per se” standard — subsection (a)(5)

At 0.08% or above, the law doesn’t ask whether the person seemed impaired. The number alone establishes the violation. This is the cleanest, hardest-to-argue version of a DUI — and a high reading can also speak to how reckless the driver’s conduct was.

The lower limits for some drivers

Not every driver gets the same 0.08 line. Drivers under 21 are over the limit at just 0.02, and commercial drivers at 0.04. A reading that would be legal for an off-duty adult can be a clear violation for a young driver or a trucker on the job.

Why it matters in your injury case

Two things make a DUI violation especially valuable on the civil side: it can establish fault almost automatically, and it can lift the usual ceiling on punitive damages.

First, negligence per se. When a driver breaks a safety law meant to protect the public — like the DUI statute — and that violation causes the kind of harm the law was designed to prevent, the violation itself can establish negligence. Instead of arguing about whether the driver was careful, the focus shifts to the fact that they were breaking the law by driving impaired.

Second, and just as important, is punitive damages. These are damages meant to punish and deter especially dangerous conduct, on top of compensation for your losses. Georgia normally caps punitive damages at $250,000 — but that cap does not apply when the defendant was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

A worked example

Without the DUI	With the DUI (§ 40-6-391)
A driver runs a red light and T-bones your car.	A driver at 0.12% BAC runs the same red light and T-bones your car.
You must prove the driver was careless.	The DUI can establish negligence per se — the violation does much of that work.
You recover compensatory damages (medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering).	You recover the same compensatory damages plus punitive damages — and the usual $250,000 cap does not apply.

Same crash, same injuries — but the drunk driver’s violation changes both how fault is proven and how much can be recovered. That is why identifying and documenting impairment early is so important.

Common misunderstandings

Related statutes & guides

This page explains Georgia law in general terms and is not legal advice; reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutory text is summarized for readability — consult the official Georgia Code for the complete, authoritative version. Whether punitive damages and negligence per se apply depends on the specific facts, so speak with a licensed Georgia attorney about your situation.